


Heart of Stone

by Kuolettava



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Internalizing, Moving On, Post-Kerberos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 02:49:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11934750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuolettava/pseuds/Kuolettava
Summary: Iverson reflects on the successes and failures of the Kerberos mission and his own as an instructor after learning of the crew's disappearance and the public announcement made of the failure.





	Heart of Stone

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this inspiration came from but I had to get it down before it left me. Un-beta'd.

_Pilot Error._

There was nothing else that the news would play for days. A risky and nearly failed mission to the distant Pluto and its moon, Kerberos. But it hadn’t failed. Not really. The crew made it there. They even retrieved the designated ice samples, which were in the lab under observation and testing. But the crew? There was no sign of them. It was as if they just. Vanished. Their rooms on their craft were still set up. The young Holt boy, Matthew, his was even still unmade. 

Iverson sat in the dark staff break room, a cup of long since cold coffee resting beside him. His hands folded neatly on the table, his head hung low. They had lied. Lied about all of it. No use startling the public. It would only cause panic. Conspiracy theorists would take it and run, as if they weren’t already. It was all a lie that he had to repeat daily as if he were stone. As if a little piece of himself wasn’t chipped away every time the words fell from his mouth. But it was his duty. He was a good soldier. 

That didn’t stop him from thinking about all of the times that he had been completely amazed by the young man chosen to fly their newest spacecraft to the farthest reaches of their galaxy. Shirogane had been the most promising student that passed through those front doors for decades.

Iverson still remembered the anxious furrow of the young man’s brow as he waited for test results that he absolutely aced. The light of excitement and pride that would come shortly after. How he was always kind, but firm, to the other students. He never wanted the spotlight. He never wanted to just be on top. The seeds that could bloom a great leader were inside him and when Shirogane had been presented with the opportunity to fly on a dangerous mission to an unknown place, Iverson hadn’t been aware that he could still be that proud of one of his students. 

What had he done to honor Shirogane’s skill? His dedication to whatever he set his mind to? His resilience and fortitude? His kindness and willingness to learn? He lied. He lied to the country, to the world, to the young minds of the future that looked to him for guidance. Guidance that Shirogane had also searched out. There was outrage, disbelief, sorrow. There would be a memorial service. They would honor Shirogane’s memory with a medal of honor, of sacrifice. They would cover their lie until even those spouting it believed it to be true. 

Iverson relaxed his hands and stood. Carefully, gently, he picked apart his feelings and packed them up in a little box. Onto the highest shelf in his mind they went to gather dust and decay. He had a job to do. As long as he had breath in his lungs, as long as there were people to teach and guide, he would make sure that nothing like what happened to one of the brightest beacons of hope humankind had seen in a long time would happen again. 

Not on his watch.


End file.
